Threave Castle

Today's the day ……………………….. to enjoy the sunshine

 A beautiful day here today, perfect for a walk to Threave Castle which stands on an island in the River Dee to the north west of Castle Douglas.

It's a former stronghold of the Black Douglases, Lords of Galloway - built by one Archibald the Grim - sometime after 1369.  There was a decisive siege here in 1455 between the Douglases and the royal Stewarts.  In the summertime, you can take a boat trip across to the island and visit the medieval tower house, but today it was just nice to look across to it and see its perfect reflection in the calm water. 

We also looked across to the Osprey nesting platform - not expecting to see any ospreys because they would be long gone to a warmer climate.  The funny thing was that it did look as if there was a large bird on the platform (see extra).  We watched it for a while and think that it was possibly a red kite - taking advantage of a ready-made lookout from which to have a bit of a rest!

Probably, it was just enjoying the sunshine, as were we …………………..